Commercial ice making machines are used in restaurants, bars, hotels, schools, stadiums, arenas, grocery stores and the like. Such machines are typically mounted on top of an ice bin or an ice dispenser that is kept full of ice by the machine.
Commercial ice making machines come in a wide variety of types and production capacities so that the customers for such machines can buy one that closely matches his or her application. Because there is such a wide array of machine choices, it is possible for an ice machine customer to minimize the amount of money he must spend on the initial purchase by picking the machine that makes just enough ice for his application. Unfortunately, this can result in an ice machine that is outgrown quickly if the owner's ice-needs increase. Because all of the major manufacturers of ice making machines offer the same wide variety of ice machine models, they all experience additional costs associated with manufacturing, stocking, selling, servicing and providing parts for a huge array of machines.
All commercial ice machines require regular maintenance. For example, manufacturers typically recommend cleaning the machines a minimum of every six months. Besides this regular maintenance, over the life of an ice machine (typically 7 to 10 years) it is not uncommon for an ice machine to break down such that the a repairman must be called to fix the machine. Typically a broken machine will be noticed when the bin runs out of ice, and does not fill back up. At this point the establishment must not only call for service, but must also go purchase ice since at this point they are completely out. They must continue to purchase ice until the machine is back up and running.